A FORMER provost of Argyll and Bute has led the tributes to long-serving Helensburgh councillor Ellen Morton.
Councillor Morton, who represented the Helensburgh and Lomond South ward, died on Saturday, October 3 aged 76.
Announcing her death, Cllr Morton’s family said on Monday that she had passed away after “an illness borne privately at home”.
Billy Petrie, who served alongside Councillor Morton on Argyll and Bute Council for 13 years, also said that he felt that with her skills, she should have gone into parliament.
Mr Petrie, who was made a freeman of Argyll and Bute upon his retirement in 2012, said: “Ellen was a very able lady and a very able councillor.
“Many a time, I said she should be in parliament. She always did her homework and made a great contribution to local affairs.
READ MORE: Helensburgh councillor Ellen Morton dies aged 76
“She was a very able chair of the Helensburgh and Lomond area committee, and the people of Cardross have lost a fine servant to the community.
“Last season, Ellen and her husband joined me for a sail on Loch Katrine. She was full of life and very interested in projects on the loch.
“She had a very kind family around her and they were a great support for her. My sympathy goes out to them and I am very sorry to hear of her passing.”
As well as being a long-serving councillor herself, Cllr Morton – who was first elected to Argyll and Bute Council in 1999, was joined on the council in 2012 by her daughter Aileen, one of four children who survive her.
Ellen is also survived by her husband Gordon and four grandchildren.
Aileen became leader of the council five years later, a post from which she stood down last month.
Serving Argyll and Bute councillors, from the Helensburgh and Lomond area and beyond, have also paid tribute.
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Depute council leader Gary Mulvaney, who had worked with Ellen since Helensburgh’s bicentenary celebrations early in the century, said: “Ellen will be sorely missed in the council.
“She loved the buzz around the big days in the council chamber, as she knew the agenda inside out and had the ability to react quickly in debate.
“More often than not, she was always able to do so with humour even if was at her own expense.
“Her long standing joke about being ready to don the lycra and get her on bike to christen the long-running Helensburgh-Cardross cycle path, whenever it got finished, is one that I will remember, but there are so many stories like that.
“Her style was to say it like it was – and you always knew where she stood on an issue. To me and Janet [Councillor Mulvaney’s wife], she was not only a councillor and neighbour but a dear friend too and we will miss her. Our thoughts are with Gordon and the family.”
Councillor Lorna Douglas said: “I was really saddened to hear about Councillor Ellen Morton’s passing.
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Councillor George Freeman added: “I was most saddened to hear of the death of Councillor Ellen Morton.
“Ellen and I go back a long way and were both elected for the first time in 1999.
“We certainly did not agree on everything and had a number of spats over the years, which I am sure Ellen enjoyed as much as me, but certainly respected each other’s views.
“As one of the longest standing councillors she will certainly be missed and I would pass on my sincere condolences to her husband Gordon, Aileen and all the other members of her family.”
The council’s depute provost, Roddy McCuish, of the Oban, Lorn and the Isles ward, said: “It is with deep sadness we learnt of the death of Councillor Ellen Morton. She was always a great advocate for her constituents and Argyll and Bute as a whole.
“On a personal note, I will always remember what a great help she was to me since I was elected in 2007. My thoughts and sympathies go to her family. She will be sadly missed.”
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